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Be prepared for a harsh budget, says Sinha

Be prepared for a harsh budget next month, for the government has no soft options to tackle the current economic crisis, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha told leaders of major political parties today.

Sinha was attending a meeting of all political parties convened by Parliamentary Affairs and Tourism Minister Madan Lal Khurana in Parliament House to discuss the agenda for the budget session beginning February 22.

The budget, to be presented on February 27 at 11am IST, will have "no soft options", Sinha said.

Khurana later told reporters that the finance minister had expressed concern at the mounting borrowings, both external and internal.

He was not much worried about external borrowings as these are being used for productive purposes, but internal borrowings are being spent almost entirely on establishments. "The trend has to be reversed," he told the meeting.

Khurana said the leaders welcomed the government's initiative to present the budget in the morning on February 27, departing from the traditional 5pm presentation.

The meeting was not attended by the Congress, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and the Trinamul Congress. But Khurana said Congress politician Sharad Pawar, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had telephonically conveyed his party's support in principle to the government's decision to present the budget at 11am. Former finance minister Dr Manmohan Singh had also sent a letter supporting the move.

Khurana was unable to give a convincing reason for the absence of the Trinamul Congress, a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition and staunch opponent of the CPI-M.

He said the budget session would be held in two parts -- from February 22 to March 18 and then from April 12 to May 14. The railway budget will be presented on February 25, soon after question hour.

Khurana said the session would have, in all, 41 sittings. Being the budget session, most of its time will be devoted to financial business. But the government will also bring up a number of important legislative proposals to give concrete shape to the assurances contained in the national agenda for governance.

"The government seeks co-operation from all sections of both houses in getting these bills passed. It was with this in view that a meeting was held this morning with leaders of all parties and groups in both Houses," he explained.

Khurana said the government's endeavour would be to convert the ordinances issued after the end of the last session into acts of Parliament in the budget session.

There are 36 bills pending in the Rajya Sabha and 22 in the Lok Sabha and the government is keen to get them passed, he said. The pending business includes the Lok Pal Bill presented to the Lok Sabha by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee himself.

UNI

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